Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many and (b) what percentage of ambulances responding to emergency calls do not have a trained paramedic on board, broken down by NHS board area.

Malcolm Chisholm: The table shows, for each Ambulance Service Division, the number of emergency responses made and the percentage of those where a trained paramedic was on board. Across Scotland this represents a 54% paramedic response rate. The service aim to achieve a 100% paramedic response rate to emergency calls by 2005. The allocation which the service has received for 2002-03, along with the indicative uplifts for 2003-04 and 2004-05, have enabled it to plan to increase the overall complement of front-line emergency staff and to train 250 more technicians to become paramedics.

  


Division
(Covering NHS Board Areas) 
  

Emergency Responses
April – June 2002 
  



Number 
  

Percentage Paramedic Response 
  



South West (Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire and Arran, 
  Argyll and Clyde) 
  

15,224 
  

54.6 
  



West Central (Lanarkshire and Greater Glasgow) 
  

27,110 
  

42.6 
  



South East (Lothian and Borders) 
  

14,491 
  

62.0 
  



East Central (Tayside, Fife and Forth Valley) 
  

15,784 
  

63.0 
  



North East (Grampian, Orkney and Shetland) 
  

6,196 
  

61.3 
  



North West (Highland and Western Isles) 
  

3,110 
  

53.1 
  



Scotland Average (weighted) 
  

- 
  

54.0

Child Welfare

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will evaluate the Safe from Harm initiative in Fife with a view to extending it throughout Scotland.

Dr Richard Simpson: The Safe from Harm initiative is part of a wider child safety awareness raising campaign being run by Fife Child Protection Committee. The Executive is part funding the campaign with Fife Council and the committee was awarded £20,000 in February 2001 under the "Make Our Communities Safer" Challenge Competition. The competition requires applicants to conduct an evaluation of the project within 18 months of its completion. The campaign is still on-going and Safe from Harm was only launched in June so it is too early to gauge its impact. It would be for other councils to decide whether they wished to introduce the initiative within their own areas. Once the evaluation is available it may be possible to determine whether it would be suitable for wider application.

Child Welfare

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports of children being involved in prostitution have been made to each police force in each of the last three years.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested cannot be separately distinguished in the recorded crime statistics collected centrally because there are a range of offences in Scots Law which the police could record following a report of a child being involved in prostitution.

Child Welfare

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26919 by Cathy Jamieson on 31 July 2002, whether it has any plans to carry out research into links between child abuse and prostitution.

Cathy Jamieson: The need for additional information on children abused through prostitution is one of the issues being considered by the Working Group on Young Runaways and Children Abused through Prostitution

Child Welfare

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26576 by Cathy Jamieson on 2 July 2002, what resources are available to support vulnerable young people who have been involved in the sex industry.

Cathy Jamieson: Resources are available from statutory and voluntary organisations to support vulnerable young people. This will include support for young people who have been involved in the sex industry but these resources are not separately identified. Examples of the kind of support which is offered to vulnerable young people include Barnardo’s Streetwork Team Project, The Young Women’s Project in Glasgow and a number of Drop In Centres in various locations.

Fisheries

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers and responsibilities local authorities and other agencies have in respect of commercial cockle harvesting.

Ross Finnie: Local authorities do not have any powers specifically to regulate cockle fishing. They do, however, have various specific powers on related matters such as food hygiene, as well as general powers, which may be appropriate depending on the circumstances.

Fisheries

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how legislation and regulations on commercial and cockle harvesting differ from equivalent legislation and regulations in England.

Ross Finnie: There are a number of legislative provisions directly and indirectly related to the harvesting of cockles (including fishing, food and environmental legislation). In terms of fisheries legislation:

  In Scotland, orders may be made under the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984 to prohibit fishing for sea fish (including shellfish) in a particular area;

  In England, Sea Fisheries Committees are empowered to make byelaws for the management and conservation of their district’s fisheries;

  In Scotland and in England, Regulating Orders may be granted under the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Act 1967 to provide for the maintenance and regulation of a fishery for shellfish.

  The damaging exploitation of a cockle bed also falls within the scope of nature conservation legislation on both sides of the border, where the cockle bed is situated within the boundaries of a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Area of Conservation or Special Protection Area.

Fisheries

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to alter legislation and regulations on commercial cockle harvesting.

Ross Finnie: I have no plans to amend any of the legislative provisions relating to the harvesting of cockles.

Fisheries

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will next meet representatives of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association.

Ross Finnie: I have no plans to meet with representatives of the Scottish White Fish Producers' Association.

Health

Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to receive the report from the expert group established in December 2001 to examine the merits or otherwise of a system of financial and other support for people who have been harmed by health service treatment where the NHS was not at fault.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-26652 on 25 June 2002.

Health

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated the possibility of using needle fasciotomy as a treatment for Dupuytren’s Contracture.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive is aware of this treatment. We do not, however, direct surgeons on whether or not to adopt this or any other specific technique. That is and must be a matter for clinical judgement depending on the circumstances of each individual case.

Licensing

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26920 by Mr Jim Wallace on 3 July 2002, who made the representations, what the details of each were and what action it plans to take in respect of the representations.

Mr Jim Wallace: Representations expressing concern over reports that the company Spearmint Rhino would be opening establishments in Scotland were received in writing by the Health Minister from Scottish Women's Aid and from a constituent writing as a private individual, whose identity it would not be appropriate to publish. In addition, Sandra White MSP tabled a written question in March this year (S1W-23016) asking what consideration the Executive was giving to introducing legislation on licensing of lap-dancing clubs. The position remains that no applications have been received by Glasgow City Council from Spearmint Rhino for either an entertainment or liquor licence. The Executive's position remains as stated in the answer given to Sandra White.

NHS Waiting Times

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26873 by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 July 2002, what action it will take to address the increases in median waiting times for an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has made tackling the longest waits for out-patient appointments a key priority for the National Waiting Times Unit. The unit has made £1.2 million available to NHS boards to fund projects specifically to address long waits for orthopaedic services. A number of these projects are aimed at substantially reducing the maximum wait for an orthopaedic out-patient consultation.

Nutrition

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out any research into (a) the level of malnutrition amongst patients admitted to hospital and (b) whether such patients receive proper nutritional care following admission.

Malcolm Chisholm: A Clinical Resource and Audit Group funded report, on the care of the elderly in long-term care (published in August 2000) examined this issue. The NHS was asked to implement the recommendations flowing from this work in a joint letter from the Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Chief Medical Officer (18 December 2000). The Scottish Health Plan reminded the service of the need to implement these recommendations. Audit Scotland has initiated a study of hospital catering which reviews the best value of catering services in the NHS in Scotland; this work will also monitor implementation of the CRAG audit and Scottish Diet Action Plan recommendations. The Information Statistics Division of NHS Scotland has developed a system for annual collection of data on nutritional status and longer term monitoring arrangements based on this are under consideration.

Nutrition

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many specialists work in nutrition in each hospital in Lanarkshire and how long each has been in post.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Dieticians are nutrition specialists who translate the science of nutrition into practical information about food. They work with people to promote nutritional well-being, prevent food-related problems and treat disease.

  Information on length of service and the number of dieticians employed by each hospital in Lanarkshire is not available centrally.

  The following table shows the headcount and whole-time equivalent of dieticians working in Lanarkshire Acute NHS Trust and Lanarkshire Primary Care NHS Trust at 30 September 2001.

  

 

Headcount 
  

WTE 
  



Lanarkshire Acute NHS Trust 
  

25 
  

20.3 
  



Lanarkshire Primary Care NHS Trust 
  

13 
  

10.6

Nutrition

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines and legislation are in place in order to ensure that every hospital has a specialist working in nutrition.

Malcolm Chisholm: A number of documents, including the Scottish Diet Action Plan and the CRAG-funded audit into the nutrition of elderly people in long-term care, make recommendations relating to the employment of suitably trained staff. Departmental guidance on nutritional care reflects these recommendations. But the main way in which nutritional care will be improved is through the Clinical Standards Board’s development of a standard for food and nutritional care. The NHS in Scotland will be expected to meet this standard when published next year.

Rape

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many rapes were reported in each of the last five years and how many such cases resulted in prosecution broken down by (a) police force and (b) procurator fiscal area.

Mr Jim Wallace: The available information on crimes of rape, which were recorded by the police, and on persons proceeded against in court where rape was the main offence, is given in the following tables. Data by procurator fiscal area are not available.

  Crimes Recorded by the Police, by Police Force Area, 1997-2001

  


Police Force Area 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  

2001 
  



Scotland 
  

570 
  

613 
  

591 
  

562 
  

589 
  



Central 
  

12 
  

19 
  

5 
  

14 
  

33 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

14 
  

25 
  

40 
  

19 
  

16 
  



Fife 
  

25 
  

35 
  

32 
  

54 
  

42 
  



Grampian 
  

54 
  

76 
  

82 
  

60 
  

55 
  



Lothian and Borders 
  

144 
  

151 
  

111 
  

119 
  

130 
  



Northern 
  

24 
  

26 
  

36 
  

15 
  

21 
  



Strathclyde 
  

217 
  

215 
  

218 
  

219 
  

240 
  



Tayside 
  

80 
  

66 
  

67 
  

62 
  

52 
  



  Persons Proceeded Against For Rape (Where Main Offence) in Scottish Courts, by Police Force Area, 1997-2001

  


Police force area 
  

1997 
  

1998 
  

1999 
  

2000 
  

20011




Scotland 
  

65 
  

66 
  

56 
  

50 
  

n/a 
  



Central 
  

2 
  

4 
  

7 
  

6 
  

n/a 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

2 
  

0 
  

2 
  

2 
  

n/a 
  



Fife 
  

3 
  

16 
  

6 
  

0 
  

n/a 
  



Grampian 
  

3 
  

7 
  

8 
  

2 
  

n/a 
  



Lothian and Borders 
  

15 
  

13 
  

18 
  

14 
  

n/a 
  



Northern 
  

2 
  

3 
  

1 
  

2 
  

n/a 
  



Strathclyde 
  

30 
  

19 
  

12 
  

21 
  

n/a 
  



Tayside 
  

8 
  

4 
  

2 
  

3 
  

n/a 
  



  Notes:

  1. Data for 2001 on persons proceeded against in court will be published in autumn 2002.

  The statistics dealing with recorded crime and court proceedings are not directly comparable as a person may be proceeded against for more than one crime involving more than one victim, and a crime may be recorded in one year and proceedings taken in a subsequent year. Charges recorded by the police may also be altered as a result of the judicial process.

Sustainable Development

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings of the Sustainable Development Forum have taken place to the present date.

Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27187 on 1 August 2002.

Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to section 50, paragraphs 5 (a) and (b) of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill, what impact the threshold of ownership of at least three quarters of units in the development in respect of sections 27 and 32 of the bill will have on those resident in a shared equity complex.

Mr Jim Wallace: The effect of section 27 of the Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill will be that a simple majority will be able to appoint a manager for the complex if the title deeds do not provide for an alternative decision-making process. Section 32 will allow the owners of a simple majority of the units to vary or discharge burdens affecting a housing complex. Section 50 of the bill provides for a special majority in relation to "core burdens" in a sheltered or retirement housing scheme. These are burdens which regulate facilities or services that make a development particularly suitable for occupation by the elderly or infirm. Attempts to use section 32 to vary these core burdens will require the consent of the owners of 75% of the units. Discharge will not be possible. A simple majority will still be able to appoint a manager in a sheltered complex using section 27, but a 75% majority will be required to confer certain powers on the manager. These special majorities have been introduced as a result of the Executive’s consultation exercise for the bill.

  The provisions of the bill allow the person(s) who hold the majority share in an individual unit to exercise the vote for that unit in respect of decisions under sections 27 and 32. As a result, if an occupier owned 80% of the property and the developer 20%, the occupier would control that property’s vote in decisions made under sections 27 and 32.

Waste Management

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce any additional charges for the collection of domestic waste.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has no plans to introduce a separate charge for the collection of domestic waste. To achieve the objectives of the National Waste Strategy for sustainable waste management there will be a need for significant changes in householders’ attitude to the waste that they produce. We need to encourage people to separate out waste that can be reused or recycled, and to try to reduce the amount of rubbish that they produce. We are considering how we can best encourage this change of behaviour.

Young Offenders

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any problems arising from the Data Protection Acts with regard to providing papers to approved youth workers and criminal justice social workers in respect of young offenders referred to them by the diversion from prosecution programmes.

Dr Richard Simpson: The Executive has not been made aware of any such problems.